The problem with corporate DEI

Here at Workplace, we devote a lot of energy to detailing the diversity commitments — and failings — of tech companies. We diligently record every moment of tiny, incremental progress: One more percentage point of Black engineers, one more percentage point increase of women in leadership, finally one woman of color in the c-suite. Following commitments from leaders at companies such as Amazon and Apple, over time we've seen that the numbers have changed just a little.

But honestly, these commitments haven’t mattered for the majority of the American workforce. I’ve dedicated most of my reporting time to the unseen labor that powers the wealth and dominance of the tech industry. And I’ve always felt a little unsettled by the fact that we interview the DEI leaders and we write about commitments and we celebrate the little achievements, but when we stop for the day, the massive workforce powering this whole machine is still the same — still contract workers, still economically stagnant, still moving from one job to the next every couple of years, and still primarily non-white.

McKinsey finally has the receipts for this. “Three in four frontline workers want to be promoted, but less than one in four achieves it.” That’s the line that opens a report, released July 30, that shows corporate diversity and inclusion policies, while causing incremental progress in representation at the upper levels, are failing to create true, measurable economic mobility for the majority of the American workforce.

While nearly two-thirds of corporate workers believe DEI policies and programs are effective, barely half of all hourly frontline workers believe the same, according to the new McKinsey survey data.

The data also shows that workers of color are overrepresented in a number of frontline roles, including jobs such as security guards and light-truck driving. Those roles have pathways to promotion with higher-paying jobs — but even in the areas where people of color are overrepresented, those workers are not promoted to those pathways. Instead, white workers get the promotion most of the time, if anyone is lucky enough to get it at all.

The McKinsey report identifies three myths that prevent change in this area: Workers can move up the corporate ladder if they want, workers don’t have the skills for higher-paying jobs, and high turnover is just fait accompli for frontline workers. Their report finds the opposite for all three of these ideas: 1) Workers want to be promoted but rarely achieve it, 2) the skills necessary for promotion are usually soft, interpersonal skills, not unachievable technical ones, and 3) turnover exists because workers don’t get investments or promotions.

“Companies that truly invest in the front line can make these roles a starting point for a fruitful career, a clear path to the middle class, and a way to transition to interesting new jobs across industries,” the report’s authors write in its conclusion.